These past couple of weeks we have been starting our days by signing in more frequently. The children are taking a lot of pride in both how well they are able to stay on the lines, and, for many of them, the increase in their name-letter knowledge. It is very impressive to see how much their fine motor skills are progressing in just the past month! Many of you commented on this today while looking through your child’s portfolios. We are so proud of our 3B friends!
This week we brought out clay to explore for the second time. Already the class is demonstrating their creativity and clay-working skills. This week the children had free reign to make anything and everything. We saw skeleton pasta, flowers, bird nests, and more. As we move ahead, we will begin provide some broad guidelines as ideas (e.g. create an animal of your choice), so the children can create with intention. Oftentimes, as children create, they will notice their creation resembles something (a bunny, for instance) and then call it that. With some guidance, they will be able to create their bunnies intentionally, rather than by chance. We will be using clay throughout the school year and look forward to seeing where the explorations in this medium take 3B.
Lastly, this week we continued our map exploration and creation. 3B is enjoying the many steps we are participating in as the map comes together. This week, as tape was added, the class was somewhat awed by the transformation happening. While not all of the group took part in the mapmaking this week, we think that most/al of them will be eager to take part next week. This is especially true because they will all be adding representations of their homes, which they have already created. We shall see!
Reminders:
· Please remember to send up to three pictures of some of your child’s favorite places in your neighborhood. These can be any places he/she finds special (restaurants, parks, movie theaters, anything). We will print these out and discuss them in the classroom as part of our ongoing map project. Thank you, we appreciate your participation!
· We are having our Curriculum Breakfast a week from today, November 22, from 10-11 a.m. The breakfast will be a potluck meal, which will be spearheaded by William’s mom, Tereza. She will be reaching out with the sign-up list very soon. Thanks everyone. Thank you, Tereza!
Thank you to everybody who has already been in for parent-teacher conferences. Today was a great day! For those yet to have conferences, Debbie and I look forward to seeing you soon.
